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Torn Posters and Shredded Lives.

The Anna Raccoon Archives

by Anna Raccoon on March 27, 2009

This post is reproduced by kind permission of Astro at Jo Morais’s site. It is one of the most eloquent and poignant descriptions of the tremendous effort made by the people of Portugal to discover what actually happened to Madeleine McCann that I have ever seen.

Earlier today, ‘Correio da Manhã’ reported on the alleged removal of posters belonging to the most recent campaign that the McCanns have launched in the greater Luz/Lagos area; posters that apparently were torn off by less than cooperative residents of Praia da Luz. A few hours later, the ‘Evening Standard’ was reporting this situation as acts of vandalism, and discussions about the subject on message boards have been lively and intense.

I personally find the subject sad, yet interesting at the same time, but it really would take a very long post to fully paint the picture of what Luz has been going through, since that fateful evening of the 3rd of May 2007.

The fact that there are people who actually trace ANY sort of connection/comparison between the locals’ worry about their only source of income – tourism – and respect or consideration for Madeleine, is offensive, to say the least. Are these people supposed to sacrifice the survival of their entire families, in the name of some sort of curse that befell the village, on the 3rd of May 2007? Are these people expected to lay down their lives, because it would look indecorous to try to preserve one’s salary?

These people have done EVERYTHING that they could do, without anyone even asking them to do it; they took time off work, they gave their best efforts, their money, their hearts and souls to help find Madeleine. Anyone who thinks otherwise has either been fed a lot of misinformation by certain media, or is simply cruel beyond comprehension. People walked their feet until they were sore, searching a radius of 15 kms around the village. Those who couldn’t physically help, offered food and drink to those who could, and to the policemen and fire fighters who were on location, day and night. Policemen slept in cars, when they slept at all; some were offered a few hours of sleep on a sofa in the locals’ homes. The people in Luz cried, prayed and worried themselves sick over a little girl that they didn’t even know, as if it was their own daughter, niece or granddaughter.

Meanwhile, all over the country, people despaired. During those first days, there was criticism of the parents, it would be false to deny it, but the general sentiment was ‘we have to find the little girl before anything else’. Finding Madeleine was the only thing that was on everyone’s mind, not only in Luz, but all over the Algarve – all over Portugal, really, as many of the early ’sightings’ across the country attest.

I think most of you are aware that I live in Portimão, some 30 kms away from Luz. I remember the helicopters flying over our house, on their way to Luz or returning from a day of searches. I remember the posters that were put up on every shop window, every bus stop, every train station, hospital waiting room, supermarket entrance… Thankfully, we never had to endure what Luz suffered, with the invasion of journalists from all over the world, in search for yet another ‘human angle’ story, for that special scope. We didn’t have to endure their raucous parties night after night, either – but that’s another story entirely.

But even 30 kms away from Luz, the worry was palpable, omnipresent, inescapable. Madeleine was the subject of every conversation, everywhere, at all times. This may seem somewhat surreal now, with the benefit of time distancing us from those times, even a bit exaggerated. But in May 2007, it seemed there was nothing that we weren’t prepared to do, even if that implied behaving in an exaggerated manner.

It was precisely this enormous nationwide effort, this extraordinarily intense commitment of people all over the country – an effort that had never been made for ‘our’ (fortunately few) missing children… – that made what followed that much harder to swallow.

It’s easy to blame the shift in people’s perspective about the case, on the leaks from the PJ, that were only too happily published by the Portuguese media. It’s easy to blame the McCanns’ fall from grace on Mr Amaral and his team (a team that included British policemen and British experts), or on human nature, because the ‘populace’ was envious of the McCanns’ money, fame, good looks.

But look again, please.You will see a very different picture.

You will see the supposedly devastated, desperate parents, jogging, playing tennis, entertaining guests, posing for photographs, jetting all over Europe. You will see them smiling at the locals when the cameras were rolling – and not even saying ‘good morning’ when the employee from the Batista supermarket delivered their shopping at their apartment. You will see the British media, under the command of the McCanns’ spokespeople, ridiculing, insulting and humiliating the very same people who cried their eyes out for Madeleine.

And when the going got tough, instead of answering the police’s questions, they left Luz without a word. They turned their backs on those who had treated them like family, who had offered everything that they had, and then more.

Some will say that nobody asked the locals to do what they did. Others will say that the McCanns owed these people nothing, that they had to think about their missing daughter, about their remaining children. The McCanns had to protect their family. Fair enough. God knows I’d protect my family with my life, if necessary; anyone can relate to such arguments. But there cannot be two different standards just because it suits us.

The people of Luz are protecting their families as well. They have to earn a living, they have no fund to pay their mortgage when times are tough. They have no wealthy supporters, no famous sponsors. All that they have is their arms and legs to do their work, day in and day out, and that work just happens to be, for the vast majority at least, the tourist trade.

Even if for a moment, they put aside the insult, the arrogance, the humiliation that they suffered, they’d still be left with a very basic choice: a campaign of highly dubious success – or the need to restore the shattered image of their village as a safe, family friendly holiday destination.

Finally, just a thought about the proclaimed purpose of this campaign: the McCanns announce that they want to enlist the help of the people of Luz, to jog their memories, to collect any information they may have about the little girl, and the night that she disappeared – in the belief that a member of the population of Luz could have deliberately held information back from the police.

I think in English this is called ‘adding to the insult’.

I’m sorry if this offends anyone, I definitely don’t condone the shredding of posters in this case; but if I ever come across one, I’ll quietly, calmly remove it and place it in the paper recycling bin. I don’t need posters to remind me of a little missing girl that didn’t deserve the destiny that befell her.

This is a super piece. Bless all the people who searched for Madeleine whilst her parents and their friends hung around the apartment unwittingly or indeed as some have said ………….. wittingly destroying any evidence of a supposed abductor or gang of abductors.

Bless all the people of PdL who continued their searching long into the night and many days and nights later whilst the parents went jogging and generally entertaining their twins etc. – and whilst their seven friends and many, many other friends and family went out to PdL to errrrr …………. do whatever those family and friends went out to do besides bring comfort to the parents who were errrrr …………… generally trying to get back to as normal a life as possible and pointedly telling the whole wide World that their child had been abducted by some swarthy-looking individual/s who absolutely had to be part of a predatory paedophile gang with international connections, that simply must have immediately swept Madeleine across the border and placed Madeleine in an ivory tower in a place like errrrr ………… Morrocco for instance or errrrr ………… somewhere completely inaccessible to all other human beings with eye-sight!

If only Madeleine’s mummy had answered a few questions that the police wanted her to answer. If only! And ………. if only all the Tapas lot could have seen the merits of holding a reconstruction with the police. Sadly, not one of them could see the value in this. What a pity.

Thank goodness for Eddie and Keela eventually coming along. Otherwise, even my cynical little self would be looking intently at every little girl aged around five years old just hoping that I could find Madeleine ……… hrrrmphh!

Eddie and Keela have assuaged any doubts that ever dare enter my mind. I hope that Eddie and Keela have brought as much comfort to a few people in PdL as they have to me!

No wonder Merry Gerry wanted to attend that Select meeting with his lawyer and Clearance. Merry Gerry does not want us to discuss this matter any further. However ………… even before our powers of free speech are completely squashed …………. Merry Gerry still has a fund to feed.

Maybe the Fund would see its way to donating something back to those wonderful selfless people in PdL. But I think they have far too much pride to accept it.

A very good friend of mine lives in PdL and would agree entirely with what you wrote here. Local lives were turned upside down in the effort to assist the McCanns and scant gratitude was shown by them.

Cato ………….. Give my best regards to your friend and anybody else they know who helped …………. including the PJ! I rarely – if ever – see any thanks given to the police who arrived at the original crime scene ………. And I have seen a complete lack of respect and disregard for their efforts.

Don’t even get me started on the way poor Mr. Amaral has been trashed and slated by the Press here in the UK.

I wish the residents of PdL were not so polite and humble about their efforts. ………. I would like to have seen them march the streets or have a sit-down vigil in Church – just to display their annoyance at the way this whole case is going.

I find that the McCanns should have done a great deal of explaining! Sadly the PT police didn’t ask the right questions at perhaps the right time? Why phone a friend at the marina ( so I am told) before phoning the police some time later? How come Merry Gerrys huge tennis bag he was seen with every day disappeared? Next time we saw him play no sign of it, I believe that at least has been mentioned. They were unlucky enough to hire the car their friends had hired that very week some weeks later, and the blood WAS found later. Theory here is and unprovable now, that there was an accident either of an overdose or some other. VERY DEAR friends aided to dispose of that child in the weighted tennis bag in a boat from the marina, ONLY because it WAS an accident., taken in the hire car that later was rehired by the Mc Canns ( proven by car hire records) finally provided proof that the child had been in the trunk, sadly it was tarnished evidence after such a delay. Why wash your vanished child’ favourite toy and stash it ontop of a wardrobe straight after shes gone missing? Hardly think that’s the first thing you do? Too many calls before phoning police to a doctor friend and a friend at the manina ( supposedly documented) and back at the party say its alright they’ve taken her, now saying they said “oh they have taken her” WHY they why taken her, why not OH MY GOD OUR CHILD IS GONE??? All speculation of course but the phone calls and words are documented as are the facts about the rehire of that unfortunate car, washing that night of maddys fav toy……etc etc etc…… Maybe the car was fates way of at least trying to get justice for one dear little girl whoe’s mummy and daddy just wanted to go off and enjoy! However this is all speculation I just hope one day a tennis bag comes to the surface! Nothing can be proved and I would be the last to acccuse.